Are you a hard gainer, please read!

Since one of the most common threads in this section seems to be that people struggle to gain weight, I wanted to create a one stop source for members to read on how to gain (particularly, specific foods to help and some techniques). First, you have to eat enough calories to get above your maintenance levels; you cannot add mass, if you are not providing a foundation to grow (i.e - calories). Once you achieve a surplus, and you want to minimize fat gains, you should consistently maintain a surplus (as opposed to huge calorie fluctuations) and ensure proper training (progressive overload lifting program that is focused on compound moves).

There are a variety of reason why people struggle to gain. One of the main reasons why people feel they are hard gainers is because they believe they have a high metabolism. Statistically speaking, the average person doesn't have a slow or fast metabolism, but rather have one of the following issues: 1. current eating style isn't conducive towards their goals, 2. psychological struggles or 3. high/active job/daily routine. What I mean by each is simple. Many people develop eating strategies, whether during dieting or habitual, that focus on many low calorie or "diet" foods. This in turn, makes it very difficult to add enough calories to get into a surplus. Also, bulking can be a huge psychological barrier for many people. It's hard going into a program where you are intentionally gaining fat and getting rid of the progress you previously had. And lastly, there are some people (teachers, construction workers, etc...) whom have jobs that are extremely active and will burn a ton of calories. This in turn, makes achieving a surplus a more difficult task than those of us who have desk jobs. Unfortunately, if you want to achieve the goal of gaining muscle, you must hit a surplus and ideally, in a consistent manor.

With that in mind, hopefully the below list of foods and some dietary strategies will provide you a guide to meet your goals:

Foods:

Avocado

Nuts, granola

Olive/Coconut Oil (as a dressing or to cook in)

Peanut/Almond/Pumpkin/etc butter

Butter, dressing and spreads

Greek Yogurt (higher fat options)

Cheese (put that crap on everything or eat a brick of it)

Creams (sour cream, cream cheese)

Ice cream, chocolate, candy

Chocolate/Strawberry milk

Bagels (I use P28 protein bagels and top with peanut butter and jelly/jam)

Another point in "hard gainers" is that they often live very active lifestyles, which naturally increases their TDEE. They rarely have desk jobs or if they do they rarely sit still at their desk. Reducing their non-exercise activity can help lower their daily calorie burn and help put them into a surplus.

Another point in "hard gainers" is that they often live very active lifestyles, which naturally increases their TDEE. They rarely have desk jobs or if they do they rarely sit still at their desk. Reducing their non-exercise activity can help lower their daily calorie burn and help put them into a surplus.

I see a lot of these questions...What is the best hardgainer workout routine?”
“I’m a hardgainer and need a good meal plan!”
“What supplements are recommended for hardgainers?”

I would like to add and talk about GENETICS...

There’s no question that genetics do play a large role in determining how slowly or quickly someone can build lean muscle. And it's true that some lifters will require more time and patience to build the physique they’re after.

But whether you’re a naturally gifted bodybuilder with elite genetics or you’re starting off on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, the same basic muscle building principles still apply.

-You need to train hard in the gym using correct form and focus on progressive overload by adding more weight to the bar over time…

-You need to create a proper calorie surplus each day that revolves around high quality sources of protein, carbohydrates and fats…

-You need to understand which supplements could help you accelerate your progress and which ones to avoid…

-You need to track your progress, remain focused and motivated, and stay consistent to your program over time…

When someone call themselves a “hardgainer” and seeking out a specific hardgainer workout, meal plan and supplement approach is not only unnecessary, but it backs you into a corner and leaves you with the false background feeling that gaining muscle is going to be next to impossible.

Sure, you may not have been particularly blessed in the department of muscle building genetics, but so what? How does paying attention to this fact do anything to help you move forward and achieve your goals?

As with anything in life, you need to put your focus on the things you can control and forget about the things you can’t. Pre-occupying yourself with your genetic makeup is a complete waste of time, as absolutely anyone can achieve a strong, impressive, muscular body if they truly want to.

The only difference is that for some people the process may be longer or shorter. And whether you have “good genetics” or “bad genetics”, the overall structure of your bodybuilding approach is essentially going to be the same.

My advice....

Take the entire idea that you require a specific “hardgainer workout” or “hardgainer meal plan” and toss it out the window.

Find your individual calorie/protein/carb/fat needs, structure a workout plan that allows you to properly recover and make consistent strength gains over time, and simply move forward from there.

I see a lot of these questions...What is the best hardgainer workout routine?”
“I’m a hardgainer and need a good meal plan!”
“What supplements are recommended for hardgainers?”

I would like to add and talk about GENETICS...

There’s no question that genetics do play a large role in determining how slowly or quickly someone can build lean muscle. And it's true that some lifters will require more time and patience to build the physique they’re after.

But whether you’re a naturally gifted bodybuilder with elite genetics or you’re starting off on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, the same basic muscle building principles still apply.

-You need to train hard in the gym using correct form and focus on progressive overload by adding more weight to the bar over time…

-You need to create a proper calorie surplus each day that revolves around high quality sources of protein, carbohydrates and fats…

-You need to understand which supplements could help you accelerate your progress and which ones to avoid…

-You need to track your progress, remain focused and motivated, and stay consistent to your program over time…

When someone call themselves a “hardgainer” and seeking out a specific hardgainer workout, meal plan and supplement approach is not only unnecessary, but it backs you into a corner and leaves you with the false background feeling that gaining muscle is going to be next to impossible.

Sure, you may not have been particularly blessed in the department of muscle building genetics, but so what? How does paying attention to this fact do anything to help you move forward and achieve your goals?

As with anything in life, you need to put your focus on the things you can control and forget about the things you can’t. Pre-occupying yourself with your genetic makeup is a complete waste of time, as absolutely anyone can achieve a strong, impressive, muscular body if they truly want to.

The only difference is that for some people the process may be longer or shorter. And whether you have “good genetics” or “bad genetics”, the overall structure of your bodybuilding approach is essentially going to be the same.

My advice....

Take the entire idea that you require a specific “hardgainer workout” or “hardgainer meal plan” and toss it out the window.

Find your individual calorie/protein/carb/fat needs, structure a workout plan that allows you to properly recover and make consistent strength gains over time, and simply move forward from there.

Aren't we supposed to clarify what we mean by a hard gainer?
I am pretty sure no one wants to be fat or gain fat weight.
thus we should never say to a hard gainer (if you want to gain weight...) it should be (if you want to gain muscles...)

Actually, there have been many threads in here where members just needed to gain weight... and by that, I do mean fat as well. In many cases, those members are severely underweight and the benefit of fat/weight, outweighs their current situation.

In the overall circumstance that tend to occur on MFP, the people who suggest they are hard gainers, generally blame it on a fast metabolism. As you continue to dig into the situations, several common factors start to arise: they don't log calories, they still eat a lot of low calorie or "diet" foods, very active jobs, or exercise a lot. And once you address those (especially the first two), you see they generally fall within the standard deviation.

Obviously, if one's ultimate goal is to gain muscle and minimize fat gains, then yes, we should help develop a plan for them to enable that. Generally, this means a small surplus of either 10% or 250 over TDEE. They should also have a solid progressive lifting program and be eating foods, in the specific ratios (or more specifically the correct grams based on lean body mass) to enable or maximize growth.

Extending this into practical terms and assuming an average expenditure of 2000kcal a day, 68% of the population falls into the range of 1840-2160kcal daily while 96% of the population is in the range of 1680-2320kcal daily. Comparing somebody at or below the 5th percentile with somebody at or above the 95th percentile would yield a difference of possibly 600kcal daily, and the chance of this occurring (comparing the self to a friend) is 0.50%, assuming two completely random persons.